Social networking has become a popular feature or service for various web-based applications, services, sites, and the like. Social networking services sometimes can include social networks for users, where each user and his or her network “connections” can create a user profile that can identify various aspects of the user's life. The user profiles can include, for example, the user's name, the user's location, and as much or as little information as the user chooses to share such as likes, interests, hobbies, occupation, education details, and other information.
Online dating services have also become popular services. In an online dating service, a user can create a user profile and provide information that may be similar to the user profile described above for social networking services. Thus, a user of a dating service may include his or her name, location, likes, interests, hobbies, employment information, education information, other information, or the like. Thus, a user of the dating service may search for other users based upon any information that may be entered to search for compatible users and/or perspective dates.
One problem with social networking services and/or online dating services may be a frequent misrepresentation of personal information. With regard to dating services, users may provide information that is thought to be attractive to other users, but which may be inaccurate. For example, a user may indicate that he or she exercises frequently, where the user may in reality never exercise or may exercise infrequently. Similarly, a user may say he or she is engaged in college studies, while in reality the user may not actually be a student.
Social networking services and online dating services may be unable to ensure the veracity of users' information. While much of the misrepresentation occurring on the Internet may be of little consequence, a user's personal safety may be at risk in the case of dating services or social networking services as some users may disclose a great deal of personal information and/or details. In various other applications, the misrepresentation of information can result in lost time or inconvenience (e.g., providing an interview to a seemingly qualified candidate for a position), but may or may not pose any health or safety risk to other users. In either event, these services may suffer from frequent misrepresentation of information.